Monitoring using piezo-electric cable sensing

Abstract

Sensing an environment by confining a monitored live subject in an enclosure, detecting an effect on a coaxial piezoelectric cable resulting from the monitored live subject, wherein the coaxial piezoelectric cable is located at least proximate to the enclosure, and deriving information about a state of the monitored live subject based on the detected effect.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for sensing an environment, comprising: confining a monitored live subject in an enclosure; detecting an effect on a coaxial piezoelectric cable resulting from the monitored live subject, wherein the coaxial piezoelectric cable is located at least proximate to the enclosure; and deriving information about a state of the monitored live subject based on the detected effect, wherein the enclosure comprises a cage. 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the monitored live subject comprises a mammal. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2 , wherein the mammal comprises a rodent. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the coaxial piezoelectric cable is in physical contact with at least a portion of the cage. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the coaxial piezoelectric cable is one of a plurality of coaxial piezoelectric cables located at least proximate to the enclosure, the method further comprising: detecting a respective effect on each of a plurality of coaxial piezoelectric cables resulting from the monitored live subject; and deriving the information about the state of the monitored live subject based on the respective detected effects. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , wherein: the cage comprises a plurality of walls and a floor, the floor aligned in a first plane substantially perpendicular to the plurality of walls; and the coaxial piezoelectric cable is located under the floor, aligned in a second plane substantially parallel to the first plane. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 6 , wherein a layout of the coaxial piezoelectric cable is arranged to provide uniform sensing coverage of the floor. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 6 , wherein the layout of the coaxial piezoelectric cable is arranged in a coil comprising a plurality of segments. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the coaxial piezoelectric cable is encapsulated in a protective assembly, the protective assembly detachably positioned in physical contact with the cage. 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 9 , wherein the protective assembly comprises: a top layer having a first surface area substantially the same as a floor of the cage; and a bottom layer having a second surface area substantially the same as the floor of the cage, wherein the coaxial piezoelectric cable is positioned between the top layer and the bottom layer. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 1 , comprising: supporting the enclosure on a rack structure. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 11 , wherein the coaxial piezoelectric cable is positioned between a surface of the rack structure and an outside surface of the enclosure. 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 12 , wherein the surface of the rack structure provides mechanical amplification of the effect on the piezoelectric cable resulting from the monitored live subject. 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the information about the state of the monitored live subject relates to one or more of: activity levels, phases of sleep, respiratory effort, or heart rate. 
     
     
       15. A method for sensing an environment, comprising: confining a monitored live subject in an enclosure; detecting an effect on a coaxial piezoelectric cable resulting from the monitored live subject, wherein the coaxial piezoelectric cable is located at least proximate to the enclosure; and deriving information about a state of the monitored live subject based on the detected effect, wherein: the monitored live subject comprises a plurality of monitored live subjects; and the detected effect on the piezoelectric cable results from the plurality of monitored live subjects. 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 15 , wherein the step of deriving comprises: deriving information about a respective state of each of the plurality of monitored live subjects based on the detected effect. 
     
     
       17. A system for sensing an environment, comprising: an enclosure configured to confine a monitored live subject; a coaxial piezoelectric cable positioned at least proximate to the enclosure; a receiver circuit, in electrical communication with the coaxial piezoelectric cable, to receive a signal indicative of an effect on the coaxial piezoelectric cable resulting from the monitored live subject when the monitored live subject is within the enclosure; a computer-readable memory, in electrical communication with the receiver circuit, to store data related to the signal received by the receiver circuit; and a signal conditioning circuit, in electrical communication with the coaxial piezo electric cable and the receiver circuit, to filter and amplify a raw signal received from the coaxial piezoelectric cable to produce the signal received by the receiver circuit. 
     
     
       18. The system of  claim 17 , wherein the receiver circuit comprises an analog-to-digital converter to convert the signal received by the receiver circuit to the data stored in the computer-readable memory. 
     
     
       19. The system of  claim 17 , comprising: a computer, in communication with the computer-readable memory, the computer comprising: a memory device storing executable instructions; and a processor coupled with the memory device, wherein the executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to: derive information about a state of the monitored live subject based on the data stored in the computer-readable memory.